Nightmare Central
by nlblake
Summary: A series of drabbles regarding the chibi versions of our favourite shinobi and their unfortunate victims.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **not mine

This is the beta-ed version, thanks to Lazy-Hime.

**

* * *

****Nightmare Central**

**1**

Kakashi noiselessly crept along the dark hall. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead, dampening his dark blue face mask. His one visible eye was narrowed in concentration. There remained only three metres between him and safety. He didn't sense anyone nearby, but he was seasoned enough to know that only because he didn't sense them didn't mean they weren't about to catch him.

Was it him or had the hallway suddenly gotten darker?

One single mistake would spell his doom. Shouldn't there be more noise? It was too silent, maybe he was caught in a genjutsu. Kakashi seriously considered the use of his Sharingan. The silver haired Jounin was so deep in thought, that he never sensed the other's presence before a big, tanned hand fell on his shoulder, holding him in place with an unyielding grip.

Kakashi froze in terror. He. Had. Been. Caught. _Nooooooooo!_

"Now, now, Kakashi, you weren't trying to get out of your punishment, were you?" a deep, kind voice chided gently.

_I will not beg, I will not beg, I will not beg…to hell with pride._

Kakashi turned his head and looked at his blond haired captor. "I'm sorry, sensei, I'll never do it again, please have mercy!" he begged hurriedly.

His sensei merely chuckled amusedly. "I warned you repeatedly, Kakashi. Hopefully the memory of your punishment today will be enough to prevent you from committing the same crime in the future."

A second hand fell down on Kakashi's shoulders, turning him bodily and forcing him to walk back the way he had come. To Kakashi the hands felt like steel manacles. He. Was. Doomed.

Together they walked along the yellow painted hallway, passing several different coloured doors on the way, muffled voices and laughter could be heard behind them.

When they came face to face with a purple door that was decorated with yellow butterflies, Kakashi attempted one last time to escape his fate, "Arashi-sensei, I swear I will never touch one again. I'll even burn my collection."

The tall blond man simply smirked at the distraught teen, opened the door and pushed the petrified Jounin into the room.

"Have fun, Kakashi! They will be picked up at 5 pm." With one last evil smirk at his pupil's plight, Arashi closed the door and walked away. Duty was calling and if he wanted to be on time when he picked his son up in the afternoon, he needed to get to his office now.

* * *

The closing of the door sounded like the gong that signalled the end of his life to Kakashi. Adrenaline surged through his veins hot and fast as he observed at the sea of expectant faces that had turned to look at him.

_I am doomed._

There were twelve of them, round faced, chubby cheeked, big eyed. He was outnumbered and at their mercy.

As he continued to watch them, some of them started to sprout evil smiles or smirks. One even bared his teeth at him. They had sensed his fear.

_I am dead._

Unsure of how to proceed, he breathed a sigh of relief when most of them turned away disinterestedly after a couple of minutes of staring. Perhaps, if he didn't move, they wouldn't attack and forget he was there?

Then one of them, who had been sitting in one of the back corners, looked up and shrieked happily, "'Kashi-kun!" The yellow haired foe ran up to him and clutched his leg. Big, brightly shining blue eyes looked up at him, accompanied by an even bigger smile.

Ignoring the way the temporarily abandoned black haired companion glared death at him, Kakashi stretched one hand out and patted soft yellow hair.

"I'm glad to see you, too, Naru-chan," he lied through his teeth.

* * *

**TBC**

AN: Be a dear and drop me a comment, would you?


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: not mine**

This is the beta-ed version, thanks to Lazy-Hime.

**

* * *

**

**Nightmare Central**

**2**

As luck would have it Naruto's attack had brought the focus of the eleven other kids back on Kakashi, who gritted his teeth at the development.

Twelve three and four years old children, three hours and one Jounin

"'Kashi-kun, 'Kashi-kun." Naruto tugged at his father's student's trousers.

"Yes, Naru-chan?"

"How you like my shirt? It's pretty, ne?" the blond toddler proudly took a step back to give the Jounin a chance to properly admire the blindingly orange shirt.

Squinting his one eye shut, Kakashi forced his voice to sound cheerful and replied: "Yes, Naru-chan, you have a very pretty shirt."

It was then that another toddler approached them. His midnight black hair stood wildly up in the back, his skin was as pale as Naruto's was tan and his dark obsidian eyes spit fire and death at the silver haired Jounin.

_No toddler should be able to glare like that._

One small hand gripped Naruto's shirt and dragged him back to the solitary corner they had occupied before Naruto's tackle.

"Sasuke, what are you doing? Let's play with 'Kashi-kun, father said he really wanted to play with us," Naruto objected his dark haired friend's actions.

_Sasuke as in Uchiha Sasuke? Itachi's little brother? I'm lucky toddlers can't use chakra yet or his Sharingan would have activated by now._

Some of Kakashi's relief at being Naruto-free must have shown in his demeanour, because calculating black eyes suddenly lit with an unholy gleam and a very un-toddler-like smirk graced his face.

The Jounin watched disbelievingly as he little Uchiha turned to his captive and said, "You're right, Naruto. We should play with him."

_That's not a normal child. The Uchiha have somehow found a way to spawn demons, first Itachi and now that evil little critter._

Naruto hugged his companion in delight, who smiled happily at the affection he received. Over the blond toddler's shoulder he gave Kakashi a look that practically spelled, "See? He may have clutched **your **leg but he jumped into **my **arms."

Attracted by Naruto's antics and joyful laughter, the other toddlers turned their attention to the two hugging friends.

One brown haired, parka wearing boy with two red stripes on his face walked over to them and asked the one question that sealed Kakashi's fate, "What are you yelling about?"

Surprising every single toddler in the room it was the Uchiha who usually only spoke to and played with Naruto that answered Kiba, "Kakashi-san promised to play with us hide and seek in the garden."

The silver haired Jounin was so stunned by Sasuke's outright lie that he couldn't even protest it. Cries of "Playtime!", "Garden!", "Hide and seek!" and "Troublesome." rang in his ears. What mere moments before had been a room with peacefully playing children erupted into utter chaos.

And in the middle of it all stood one small, black haired toddler that smirked challengingly at Kakashi.

* * *

There had been no way out of playing hide and seek for Kakashi. The children wouldn't settle down for anything else.

On the other hand, he seriously doubted they would play longer than five minutes. The day care-centre's garden was relatively small and surrounded by sturdy, high white walls. There were a finite number of places where the toddlers could hide and Kakashi was an accomplished ninja who could sense chakra.

_How difficult could it be?_

One hour later he was ready to tear his hair out in frustration. He had found the apathetic, chronically lazy toddler that found everything "troublesome" and the chubby boy that hid with him in the first five minutes of the game.

Giggling had led him to the hiding place a girl who wore her brown hair in two buns, a Hyuuga, if the eyes were any indication, and another boy with really thick eyebrows. The girl had been playing with the Hyuuga boy's hair, braiding it.

A pink haired little girl and her blonde friend gave themselves away by their loud conversation about how "pretty Sasuke-kun" was. Kakashi shook his head at them. If the damn Uchiha brat's possessiveness regarding Naruto was any indication, Sasuke would never as much as glance at the girls.

He had been searching frantically for twenty minutes, had been cheating with his chakra sense for forty and was still five toddlers short.

_Don't panic, they have to be somewhere in the garden, you just haven't found them yet. Breathe, Kakashi, breathe. Don't think about what Arashi-sensei or that brother-obsessed Itachi will do to you if you manage to lose their brats._

Surprisingly the other children watched patiently as he searched for their missing companions. Kakashi had always known that children were sadistic twisted little creatures.

* * *

**TBC**

AN: Reviewing doesn't hurt ;-)


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **not mine

**This is the beta-ed version, thanks to Lazy-Hime.**

**Nightmare Central**

**3**

He had searched everywhere, without result. Kakashi's clothes were damp with sweat and he had developed a nervous tick in his visible eye.

It just escaped him how it was possible for five toddlers, toddlers as in those ankle biters that usually couldn't stay still **or **silent not matter what one bribed them with, to vanish in the time span of five minutes in an area that was just as big as his own apartment.

_Aliens? Enemy ninja? A huge bird of prey that attacked soundlessly while I was looking somewhere else? The citizens of hell took them back because they felt lonely without their elite demons?_

Really, his Sharingan was as good as useless in this kind of situation. The Hyuuga's Byakugan was much better equipped for search missions. Looking back at the peacefully playing children in front of the door to their classroom, Kakashi saw his saviour.

Trying to look as harmless and friendly as a Jounin could, the silver haired teen walked over to the dark haired boy whose hair was still caught in several braids. While the Uchiha developed their Sharingan in their teens (or later), the Hyuuga children were already born with their enhanced eye form.

"Yo, Hyuuga-chibi," he started. The boy sent Kakashi a withering glare. "I think the others are lost, mind helping them out?"

The boy had the audacity to snort derisively at that statement. "You're just a bad seeker and I won't help you cheat."

Kakashi wondered if the Hyuuga would notice they were one brat short when they came to pick them up. _Probably, and sensei is sure to take a head count anyway before he let's me leave._

He knew that there was a really simple way to get the missing ankle biters to come out of their hiding places, but his pride wouldn't allow him to admit defeat. A Jounin defeated by five toddlers in a game of hide and seek? The other shinobi would never let him live that one down.

He would simply have to take a step back and look at his surroundings again. There were five big, old trees, approximately thirteen bushes and seven ant- or molehills. Wait a moment, **five **hills? Wasn't that a bit much for such a small garden area?

_Found you._

Three of the hills were grouped together near the garden wall. Kakashi walked over to them and doused them with a small water jutsu.

Two squeals of surprise and a quivering hill were the result. Three dirty little toddlers crawled out of the mud hills they had hid in.

The little girl, another Hyuuga, tried to clean her little sundress of dirt, never looking up at Kakashi. The brown haired loudmouthed boy bragged about how "great" their hiding place was and how bad the "silver Cyclops" was as a seeker.

"Ano, Kiba-kun, it was Shino's idea to act like the ants and hide in the hills," the short haired girl protested weakly.

The other dark haired guy didn't say anything; he simply nodded at the Hyuuga girl and walked over to the rest of the group.

* * *

The sun stood alarmingly deep in the west and Kakashi was still missing two kids. And not just any kids, but the two whose relatives were the most dangerous shinobi Konoha had to offer.

For the second time today, the Jounin was ready to throw pride in the wind.

"Alright, Naruto, Sasuke, I give up," Kakashi called loudly. Sadly there was no reaction other than the giggles and laughter of the toddlers huddles behind him.

"You can come out now, you won," he tried again, a desperate note in his voice.

Still, there was no change in the garden.

Kakashi's hands started to shake. What if the kids had somehow managed to scale the wall and were now helplessly wandering in the village? What if they had really been kidnapped? They were the scions of the two very prestigious shinobi families.

Just as he considered calling for an ANBU team, the lazy brunette that was looking up at the sky remarked, "Those two are so troublesome."

"What do you mean, Lazy-chibi?" the silver haired Jounin inquired.

But the brunette had already lost interest in the topic again. Kakashi looked at the other kids; none of them seemed to be worried about their missing companions, which was kind of weird, especially for the two Uchiha worshippers.

Something here was fishy.

A tug at his trousers (…and didn't they know any other methods to get his attention, he hated being touched) made him look down at the girl with the two buns, the one who liked to braid hair.

"Naruto and Sasuke are the bestest at hide and seek. They always win and then the seeker gets scolded by their parents," she told him sweetly.

Kakashi's eyebrow rose to his hairline. _They do this always? They stay hidden so long till their parents are here to pick them up?_

Kneeling down next to the girl he asked her playfully, "And do you know where it is they always hide so successfully at?"

The girl nodded. "Tenten knows, Tenten knows."

Kakashi started to smirk. "Mind showing me?"

Tenten grabbed his hand and pulled him over to one of the biggest trees. "In there."

"Are you sure? I can't see any openings."

The girl smiled brightly up at him and said, "That's 'cause Sasuke always hides it. You have to knock."

Tenten demonstrated how to knock on the tree untill she came to a spot where the tree sounded hollow. Then she felt along the bark with her small hands and dismantled the cover.

Inside the hole Sasuke and Naruto were fast asleep, snuggled tight together, Sasuke's arms securely around Naruto's waist.

Kakashi swore even the Uchiha brat was smirking at him victoriously even in his sleep.

_Look at the bright side, Kakashi. You are the first caretaker that was able to find them before you had to confess to Arashi-sensei or Itachi that you lost their kids._

A look at the time showed he only had to hold out for half an hour more, and then his punishment would be served.

* * *

It had been relatively easy to get the tired children back into their classroom again, if Kakashi disregarded the death glares an angry Uchiha sent his way for waking them up, causing Naruto to leave the black haired boy's embrace and mingle with the other toddlers.

Thinking back on the two hours of torture in the garden, Kakashi merely smiled brightly back at him.

When the first couple of parents showed up to relieve him of their critters he had to fight to hold back tears. With every single child leaving the room he came nearer to freedom.

Because the day had already been absolutely horrible, he wasn't really surprised that the last children to leave his care were one hyper blond and one sulking Uchiha brat.

Suddenly said brat looked at the door and smiled.

_He knows how to smile? I thought it was impossible for his facial muscles to pull that way._

"Itachi-nii-san!"

The dark haired, deadly teen standing at the door smiled kindly back at his little brother, who grabbed Naruto's hand and walked over to the door.

"Nii-san, Naruto has been abandoned. Can I take him back to my room and keep him?" he asked Itachi.

Kakashi couldn't suppress a startled cough at that. _Perhaps I should warn sensei about that. That hell spawn isn't nearly as innocent as his age might suggest._

Itachi only shook his head in amusement. "You know that Arashi-sama will come to pick Naruto up, Sasuke."

"So if he didn't come I could keep him?"

Kakashi felt a shiver run down his back at the scheming look in those big, dark eyes. _If they ever find sensei's corpse I'll know who __**I**__ would question first._

"Not today, Sasuke. Say goodbye to your friend."

After a long goodbye-hug, another death glare in his direction, and a polite nod from Itachi, the Uchiha brothers left.

Out from the floor parts of their conversation flowed into the room.

"What did you do today?"

"Mhm, we played hide and seek. Naruto and I won."

"Kakashi must be a good seeker, if he was able to find you."

"Nuh-uh, he cheated."

* * *

In the Hokage office Arashi quickly tidied up his desk. He was running a little late. His guest chuckled and asked, "Late to pick up your son?"

The blond Hokage nodded at the old man. They left the office together.

"I bet Kakashi-kun won't even touch his perverted books again, much less read them in public," the Sandaime commented.

The evil smirk that crept onto his successor's face startled him enough to stop walking.

"Nah, it won't hold for a week."

"And pray tell how do you come to this conclusion?"

"Jiraiya-sensei told me his new book will come out in a week. But I'm sure it will take a year till Kakashi even looks at young women again, much less flirt with Ayame-chan."

Sarutobi's eyes threatened to fall out at that comment. "Don't tell me you sentenced your student to hell, where he is sure to suffer severe trauma, just so he will stop flirting with the daughter of the Ichiraku's owner?"

"It's for his own good. I just wanted him to think really hard about the consequences his popularity with the other gender can have. That and free ramen for six months."

* * *

After the last menace had been picked up by one grinning sensei, Kakashi had gone straight to the next bar, where he drank one cup of sake after the other.

"What's with him?" a female fellow ANBU whispered, pointing at the furiously drinking Hatake tensai.

"I heard he pissed the Hokage off and received capital punishment," her big, smoking companion answered.

"What?"

"He's just the latest victim of Nightmare Central. It's where they send the first offenders to ensure they will never disobey again. Rumour has it that it's more effective than a visit to Ibiki."

* * *

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **not mine

**This is the beta-ed version, thanks to Lazy-Hime.**

* * *

**Nightmare Central**

**4**

Genma smiled up at the blond man sitting behind the desk. Pushing the senbon in his mouth from one side to the other he waited for his Hokage to respond.

"Did I understand that correctly, Genma? You want to **volunteer **for a shift at the day care-centre?" Arashi didn't know what to make of the whole situation and therefore didn't manage to keep the disbelief quite out of his voice.

The young Jounin simply nodded. "Yepp."

"Well, there's no free whole shift, but if you insist you could take the two hour shift this afternoon. Just go to the classroom at the end of the hall at three pm and relieve the Chuunin there."

"Will do."

Genma cheerfully left the Hokage's office, whistling a little tune under his breath.

He had been on a mission when Kakashi had been sentenced to an afternoon in the day care-centre and therefore totally unprepared for the copy-nin's new phobia. The first time his silver haired friend stopped dead in his tracks, shivering, before vanishing in a cloud of smoke, Genma had drawn his kunai, frantically looking for enemies.

The street's only other occupants had been a laughing pair of toddlers and their sitter.

Of course the first thing Genma did when he found his friend drinking at a bar later in the evening was to confront him about his peculiar behaviour.

He had thought he had seen it all untill his friend claimed that children were sadistic monsters out to get him and hell had sent a spy in disguise of the youngest Uchiha brat to prepare the Apocalypse.

Naturally Genma didn't buy it. That was when Kakashi threw down the gauntlet, so to speak, in form of a dare.

"If you think I'm wrong, prove it. I dare you to look after the monsters for an afternoon."

If there was one thing Genma could never resist, it was a dare. He had made it the first business of the following day to ask the Hokage for a shift at the day care-centre.

* * *

Genma was still whistling when he arrived at the violet door that was decorated with yellow butterflies. Looking at it he could only shake his head in wonder at the outrageous rumour that insisted said door to be starring in many shinobi's nightmares.

He knocked confidently.

A harried looking teenager opened. Genma's eyebrows rose at the sight. He knew that boy; he was one of the toughest Chuunin in Leaf. The boy looked like he was seconds shy of a nervous breakdown.

"I'm here to relieve you."

The words had barely left his mouth when the Chuunin took off with tears streaming down his face.

"Weird guy."

Entering the room and closing the door, Genma got the first good look at what others referred to as "Nightmare Central".

The room's walls were painted in a nice, friendly shade of yellow, one side decorated with what he assumed to be the children's artwork.

A couple of desks were grouped in the centre of the room, on the left side stood a shelf with artwork materials, books, and toys.

The back of the room was one huge nest of blankets, quilts and pillows.

The room's occupants looked just as harmless as their surroundings.

_This is going to be fun. Don't know why they give hazard pay for something like this._

"Hello, kids! My name's Genma. Wanna introduce yourselves so I don't have to call you by numbers?" he said friendly.

The toddlers stopped what they were doing and looked at the new addition.

Silently, Genma did a head count. _One, two, three, four, five... ten. Wait a moment, ten? Shouldn't there be twelve?_

One of the girl-toddlers looked up at him with shining eyes and asked: "What's into...inro…induse?"

Before Genma could answer her question however, a boy whose head was lying on one of the desks with his eyes closed murmured, "It's 'introduce' and it means telling him your name."

"That's what I said, Shika!" the blonde girl told the boy off, before smiling once again up at the Jounin. "Hi, I'm Ino and I'm going to be Sasuke's wife."

"Ino, you liar! I'm going to be Sasuke's wife, me, Sakura!" a pink haired girl yelled enraged.

Before the girls could come to blows, Genma amusedly interrupted: "So, where's the lucky groom of two beautiful wives?"

_If he's already got the ladies fighting for him, I could learn a thing or two._

"Sasuke left for the doctors, he was ill, but he's better now," the pink one answered.

_That explains one absence, but where's child number 12?_

"So, you two are Ino and Sakura, the boy sleeping on the desk is Shika. And the rest of you guys?" he tried again.

A boy with long dark hair muttered while trying to keep his neighbour's hands out of his hair, "Neji."

The girl so determined to play with his hair chirped, "Tenten."

A boy with two red stripes on his face yelled, "I'm Kiba, the coolest."

This caused the small girl next to him to giggle, before she shyly whispered, "I'm Hinata and this is Shino. He likes bugs."

Genma nodded at the three.

The two boys playing rock, paper, and scissors paused in their game. It was the chubbier of the two that spoke, "I'm Chouji and this is Lee."

"Nice to meet you all. Shouldn't there be one more, though?" If the Chuunin had lost one of them during his shift, Genma would make sure not to be the one to take the fall for it.

Just then the nest of blankets started to move and a pitiful whine could be heard.

_The blankets are alive? Wow, wish I had a pair._

"Oh, you mean Naruto. Naruto isn't feeling good; he's been sleeping over there the whole time," Tenten informed him.

Worriedly Genma walked to the nest, shoving the blankets carefully out of the way to get a look at the ill toddler lurking beneath.

Warm brown eyes met watery blue ones. The senbon fell unnoticed to the ground. It was love at first sight.

Huddled deep in the blankets laid a little blond haired angel.

"You're sooo cute!" cooed the Jounin and gathered the boy together with his blankets in his arms.

Naruto who had been feeling miserable and lonely since Sasuke left for his doctor's appointment, smiled up at the nice smelling young man and cuddled into his chest.

This was the sight that greeted Sasuke's eyes as he re-entered the classroom.

* * *

**TBC**

AN: Drop me a comment, would you?


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **not mine

**Warning: **this is the unbeta-ed version

* * *

**Nightmare Central**

**5**

Genma didn't react when the glowering kid in the doorway went back out into the hallway; he was too busy cuddling his little angel.

"Don't cry Konpeki-chan." the Jounin cooed at the golden haired toddler in his arms, drying the last remnants of tears on Naruto's face.

The toddler smiled drowsily back at him, obviously feeling much happier than seconds before.

_He's so cute. How did Kakashi bring it over his heart to leave the little angel again?_

A loud argument between Kiba and Sakura brought him out of his Naruto induced haze.

"I'm too the coolest." Kiba yelled stubbornly, pressing his little fists into his waist.

Sakura's pale green eyes narrowed at that and she took a menacing step towards the boy. "Are not. Sasuke-kun is much cooler and better and prettier than you!"

Seeing that the pink and brown haired toddlers were a minute away from going to blows over Kiba's and Sasuke's male pride respectively, Genma decided to intervene with a light comment to Sakura: "You really shouldn't call a guy pretty, Sakura-chan. Girls are pretty, boys are handsome."

Forgetting that she had been fighting for her Sasuke-kun's pride a moment before, the pink haired toddler turned impressed eyes to the cheerfully smiling Jounin.

"Tell me more." she demanded forcefully, the hungry gleam in her eyes nearly disturbing in its intensity.

Before Genma had a chance to respond to that, Ino's shriek of "Sasuke-kun, you're back!" caught Sakura's attention. Really, there were Chuunin who couldn't move as fast as the girl toddler.

"Ino, stop hogging Sasuke!" she grumbled angrily.

Now that the highly sought after boy had finally arrived in the classroom, Genma decided to take a look at him. There had to be a reason why the girls were crazy about him even as toddlers.

The boy who was currently being pestered by one blond and one pink haired toddler had midnight black, unruly hair, dark obsidian eyes, a delicately shaped face with high cheekbones and smooth, pale skin.

Waving at the boy he decided to ignore the hostile attitude and lethal glare. The boy was obviously unhappy about being mobbed by fan girls.

"You must be Sasuke. I was curious to meet the boy who is so popular with the ladies. My name's Genma." he greeted the sulking boy.

"Alright, kids, ears open and mouths closed, please. Since Konpeki-chan isn't feeling well and really tired, you'll have to play silently till you're picked up. Fair?" he told the children with a friendly, but firm voice.

* * *

From the very moment Sasuke had caught sight of the new caretaker, he had known the man was trouble. First, he was touching **his **Naruto. Second, unlike every other caretaker they had had so far **this one **was totally unafraid of them.

That's why Sasuke had gone back to the clan member that had accompanied him to the doctor and back, since Itachi was busy, and had stealthily taken one of the man's kunai out of his pocket.

Still, he would have to create an opening in which he could make use of his weapon. Meaning he would have to use the others as a distraction.

Sasuke hated talking to the other kids, they were boring and unimportant. The toddler's glare was glued to the villain who was holding his Naruto captive.

Mouth thinning into an angry, pale line, he clenched his fists and walked to the desk were the Hyuuga boy and the hair obsessed girl were sitting.

If it was for his Naruto, Sasuke would do anything.

* * *

Though most of his attention was focused on the peacefully sleeping bundle in his arms, Genma kept an eye on the happenings at the children's desks.

The pale ice-prince was currently sitting next to Neji whose hair was being done in several different ways by the girl with the two buns. The poor boy had a long suffering look on his face. Genma gathered it was a daily occurrence and the boy had simply given up on keeping his hair safe from the girl.

The Jounin chuckled at the thought. _Looks like you learned one of life's most important lessons already. Never argue with the lady._

He watched as Sasuke lent over and whispered something into the Hyuuga's ear, before getting up and walking over to the desk where Kiba, the silent boy toddler and the quiet Hinata sat.

He didn't miss the sudden hope in Neji's eyes nor how the other three toddlers were obviously shocked at Sasuke's presence.

Suspiciously he watched as the boy left that table as well, walking over to the chubby kid and the sleeping Shika. He would have kept watching Sasuke's moves, but Kiba was tugging at his trousers excitedly.

"Yes?" he asked the boy with raised eyebrows.

"Give us your headband, Hinata needs it to draw a picture." the toddler demanded.

Genma shrugged, sat down so as not to wake Naruto when he took the headband off. With a light warning he gave it to Kiba: "Don't scratch it and give it back when you're done."

The boy was hardly two steps away, when he felt small hands combing through his now freed hair.

Looking over his shoulder he discovered the owner of said hands. It was a humming TenTen, lips caught between small white teeth as she concentrated on braiding her new victim's hair.

_Well, that explains why the Hyuuga boy is grinning like a thirsting man in the desert that's found a water source at long last._

He decided to let the girl be, by the way Neji was patting his own hair nervously the boy needed the break.

"KIBA!" suddenly rang through the room. The chubby boy was furiously walking over to a clueless looking Kiba.

Without further words Chouji jumped the other boy, causing both to fall to the floor, where they proceeded to roll around, pulling on each other's hair.

Hinata started to cry, Ino ordered Shika to stop the boys' fight, Lee wanted to join the "friendly competition", Sakura and Shino tried to comfort the distraught Hyuuga girl, Neji was looking thoughtfully at a corner in Genma's dead angle, while TenTen kept serenely playing with Genma's hair.

The brown haired Jounin was impressed. It hadn't even taken two minutes for the group of silently playing, content children to erupt into utter and complete chaos.

He knew that as a responsible adult he should probably put an end to the fight and calm the children, but he quite enjoyed the show. It was better than any soap opera.

_Who knew kids could be so entertaining?_

Sadly the loud commotion had also woken Naruto up, who started to cry again, because all the noise hurt his ears and made his head pound.

Of course, Genma's first priority was his little Konpeki-chan. Bending his head to kiss Naruto's forehead he felt an enormous killing intent to his left. Then something long and metallic was thrown at him from his dead angle.

Effortlessly Genma caught the kunai with one hand, never moving an inch from his spot.

_Never underestimate an Uchiha, eh, __chibi-Itachi?_

Seeing Sasuke look possessively at the blond boy in Genma's arms, the Jounin finally knew what all the glowering and dark looks had been about.

"Nice try, chibi-Itachi." he chuckled when the boy frowned at him. Others might have questioned a toddler's ability to formulate and carry out such a complex plan to create a diversion that would enable him to take down his older and stronger foe from behind, but not Genma. He had been on the same team as Itachi often enough to know better.

And just to rub it in, he nuzzled Naruto's soft hair.

* * *

Kakashi and the other Jounin, who knew about Genma's shift at Nightmare Central, were waiting for him at the bar, ready to watch another shinobi drown his traumatic experience in sake.

Therefore they were utterly unprepared for the sight of an even more cheerful and happy Genma making his way over to their table, whistling a catchy tune under his breath.

Taking a seat, he moved the senbon in his mouth from right to left, took a cup of sake and cheered : "Chibi-Itachi: 0, Genma: 1."

* * *

Itachi looked worriedly at his little brother. The boy had been sulking and glaring darkly ever since he picked him up.

"Are you worried about Naruto-chan?" he asked softly. "If you want to, we can quickly walk over to his house and visit him. Arashi-sama is sure to be home already."

Itachi didn't know why Sasuke suddenly spouted a dark smirk, but decided he would find out soon enough. His brother's schemes were always highly entertaining, especially when his blond friend was involved.

Yet, not even he was prepared when Sasuke told the Hokage: "I didn't like the bad man who looked after us today. He kept touching my Naruto inaprotierly."

* * *

**TBC**

AN: Please tell me how you liked it, thanks.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **not mine

**Warnings: **unbeta-ed version

**

* * *

**

**Nightmare Central **

**6**

Arashi nearly choked at the dark haired toddler's innocent remark. A look at the older Uchiha standing next to the sulking boy showed that Itachi didn't know what his brother was talking about, either.

Usually Arashi didn't trust the youngest Uchiha. He still remembered the time when he had left Naruto alone at the playground to go buy his son some Ramen for five minutes only to come back to a Naruto-empty playground.

He had been ready to send out ANBU search teams when an amused Itachi had come around the corner, one toddler in each hand, one black haired and sulking, one blond and bouncy.

It wasn't to be the last time little Sasuke would try to convince his brother that Naruto had been abandoned and was therefore eligible to adoption. No, it didn't do to trust the brooding toddler.

On the other hand, Sasuke had just stated that Arashi's precious son had been molested and his instincts were already screaming at him to find and destroy a certain Jounin. He had thought it highly suspicious that someone would **volunteer **to work a shift at Nightmare Central; he should have known there had been ulterior motives at play.

"What do you mean, he kept touching Naru-chan?" he asked the toddler sweetly, kneeling down to be on the same eye-level.

* * *

Sasuke looked into the man's blue eyes and tried not to smirk. He didn't like the man, because he was the reason Sasuke couldn't take Naruto home with him and keep him in his room, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Sasuke remembered the time his mother warned him about people who tried to touch pretty young children in a wrong way and what he should do should anyone try to touch him that way.

The older man's over protectiveness would for once help Sasuke obtain what he wanted instead of getting in the way of it.

With wide, innocent eyes he replied: "He was keeping Naruto on his lap the whole time."

He noticed with glee the rage that bled into the blond man's eyes and the vein that started to throb dangerously on his forehead.

"He was always touching and nuzzling him." he continued, careful to keep his voice innocent and clueless.

There was no need to clarify that the touching he was talking about was the Jounin stroking Naruto's hair.

And just to be sure his opponent would be taken down before he had time to explain his actions, he said: "And then he kissed him."

It had been a kiss on the forehead, but the man didn't need to know that.

He only allowed the victorious smirk to come out after Naruto's father had asked Itachi to keep an eye on Naruto for a while, before vanishing in a yellow flash, leaving the Uchiha brothers alone in his house.

_Take that! And I even get to stay with __**my **__Naruto without anyone trying to steal him away._

* * *

Kakashi was surprised at the number of people he met on the way to his friend's hospital room. Then again, it wasn't every day you witnessed your Hokage nearly kill one of his Jounin in a "training accident".

He guessed they were all curious to learn what that was all about. The silver haired Jounin knew that there were only two things that could enrage his former sensei to the point where he was beyond reason. One was if you threatened his village and the other was one hyper, little blond toddler.

Though Kakashi didn't know what Genma could have done to awake the mother-hen in their Hokage.

"Yo!" he greeted the mummified form lying pathetically in the hospital bed cheerfully.

"Since you won our bet I'm here with the first payment. One basket full of the best dark chocolate Konoha has to offer."

Kakashi was a bit disturbed when his friend only chuckled at that.

"I think I know why you call Sasuke a demon now. He'll be one hell of a ninja when he's older. It's so adorable."

The silver haired Jounin told himself firmly that it was undignified to imitate a fish out of water even if no one could see it behind his facemask and resisted the urge to ring for a nurse since his friend had obviously lost his mind.

"What are you talking about?" he decided to inquire cautiously.

"Would you believe that chibi-Itachi caused the room to erupt into chaos just so he could throw a kunai at me? And after failing to take me down personally, he went to the Hokage and told him I was touching Kenpoki-chan inappropriately." Genma elaborated.

Kakashi couldn't believe his friend was actually amused by the hell-spawn's attacks. The brunette had been nearly killed yesterday and he still didn't show any sign of fear regarding children in general and Uchiha-brats in specific.

"You know what? I give up, you're a lost case. And who in hell is Kenpoki-chan?"

"That's my nickname for the little blond angel chibi-Itachi is so attached to."

"You're not seriously thinking about going back to that hellhole, are you?"

Kakashi didn't like the way Genma smirked at that at all.

"Oh, but I do. I still have a score to settle, after all. It's entertaining and good training and chibi-Itachi is still too young to do any real damage."

Kakashi raised one silver eyebrow and looked pointedly at his friend's broken and battered body.

He was still shaking his head when he left the hospital. Jounin were known for their strange habits and if Genma wanted to court death by baiting the hell-spawn, it was his business. Kakashi would just stand back and enjoy the show.

* * *

**TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **not mine

**Warnings: **unbeta-ed version

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Arashi was at his wits end. His adorable little son had been sad and teary eyed since his father had picked him up from pre-school.

Of course Arashi had made sure that his little sunshine hadn't been hurt in any way or form by the substitute that had been sentenced to a shift at Nightmare Central, but the choking Chuunin (because of safety measures Genin were no longer allowed to supervise the children without their Jounin instructor since Sasuke started to gain experience by setting traps for Genma) had assured that Naruto had been depressed since before the Chuunin even entered the room.

When Naruto declined an offer to eat dinner at "Ichiraku's", Arashi started to worry in earnest.

"Naru-chan, won't you tell papa what's bothering you?" he cooed, cuddling the little blond five years old against his chest.

Naruto just shook his head, his slender frame shaking with suppressed sobs. Arashi felt like crying himself.

"Naru-chan, are you hurt somewhere? I promise papa won't scold you even if you got hurt doing something you've been forbidden from doing." The blond Hokage tried again, but the result stayed the same.

"That's it; I'm taking you to a medic-nin."

Holding Naruto protectively in his arms, Arashi raced to the hospital.

* * *

"Arashi-sensei, are you alright? You look really tired." Kakashi greeted his former teacher cheerfully, carelessly throwing his report on the tower of papers already littering the Hokage's desk, causing it to topple and break down.

Usually that action alone would have thrown the Hokage into a rage, because the tower that been the work of hours of trying to sort the important paperwork from the less important one that could be ignored or even lost for a couple of weeks. Today, Arashi looked blearily up at his student, blue eyes sunken in and rimmed with red.

"Sensei?" asked the silver haired Jounin worriedly.

"Naruto was up all night long, crying. He didn't stop once and started throwing up around three o'clock." The blond Hokage sounded defeated, tired and worried all at once. "The medics said there wasn't anything physically wrong with him and the Chuunin at the day care centre swears that Naruto was already like that when he arrived on duty. And Naruto isn't talking...or eating...or sleeping...or doing anything but cry his little heart out."

Kakashi took a moment to think and then said: "Did you ask the little Uchiha brat yet?"

The blond head shot up and blue eyes stared at the crinkled visible one in wonder.

"I mean, usually the demon in disguise is glued to your son's side, so it'd be kind of obvious to ask him about Naruto, since there's a 99 percent chance that he knows what's bothering his friend."

A rush of wind, an open window and a trace of yellow were all Kakashi saw of the Hokage as the man raced to the day care centre, determined to get to the root of his son's sudden bout of misery.

* * *

The Jounin on duty, who had been careless enough to ignore the third warning regarding his illegible mission reports, was looking surprised at the blond man that had stormed into the room and was now going from child to child, looking at their faces before continuing on.

"Hokage-sama, do you need anything?" the black haired Jounin finally asked.

"Where is he?" Arashi replied curtly.

"Oh, your son left with Uchiha-san ten minutes ago."

"I'm looking for that Uchiha bra...What did you say? My son left? Why? And with whom?"

Correctly translating the growing fire in blue eyes as a warning to answer quickly or forfeit his life, the Jounin stammered hurriedly: "Uchiha-san said that his little brother was missing Naruto and refused to eat anything till he could meet his friend. He assured me you wouldn't have anything against it."

"Why would my son need to be taken somewhere else to meet Sasuke?"

It wasn't the Jounin who answered this time, but one of the children, a boy with long brown hair and the characteristic Hyuuga-eyes. "Sasuke-kun has been absent for the last three days. Yesterday Naruto told us that his Sasuke was dying."

Arashi wasn't sure he wanted to know how a six year old boy could talk so calmly about the possible death of one of his playmates. Since the boy currently was his only source of information, he decided to ignore the creepiness and be nice.

"Hello, Hyuuga-kun."

"His name is Neji, not Hyuuga-kun." A brown haired girl interrupted him, here little fists stemmed into her sides, her brown eyes glaring up at him.

"Thank you." Arashi nodded at the girl and then tried again: "Neji-kun, do you know why Naruto thought Sasuke was dying?"

The long haired boy nodded affirmatively and replied: "On the first day of Sasuke's absence Itachi-san told Naruto that his little brother had a cold and a fever. Yesterday Naruto said the white haired hermit who looked after him because you had to work longer told him that "a man or boy who didn't crave the gentle touch of a woman's or girl's soft hands" had to be either near death or already dead. That's how Naruto knows that Sasuke is dying."

Arashi was sure that he looked pretty undignified with his chin touching the ground like that, but he hadn't been prepared for that.

The fiery girl with the two buns supported Neji's tale: "And Sasuke is never touching anyone but Naruto and Itachi-sama. Whenever Sakura or Ino try to touch him he runs away or hides or climbs up a tree or disappears with Naruto into their secret hide out."

"That's not true!" a pink haired little girl protested vehemently. "Sasuke-kun's just shy."

Arashi was pretty sure that the young Uchiha scion was **not**, but the manic glint in the girl's green eyes convinced him to keep his doubts to himself.

"Thank you, Neji-kun and ..." he looked questioningly at the brown haired girl.

"Tenten." She chirped in a clear voice.

"Thank you, Neji-kun and Tenten-chan. I was pretty worried about Naruto."

"So, what are you going to do about it, Naruto's tousan? A crying and depressed Naruto is way too troublesome." Yawned another boy who had come up to the Hokage, his brown hair pulled up into a pineapple like bun.

Arashi smiled the pure evilness in that smile and the dangerous promise in his eyes making the Jounin turn pale and the girls shudder.

"Now," the blond Hokage said in a low voice, "now I am going to hunt down a certain perverted sensei of mine and explain to him in length and detail exactly why he shouldn't tell such lies to my son."

* * *

**TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

**disclaimer:** I still don't own Naruto

A thousand thanks to my amazing beta, Lazy-Hime :-)

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Sasuke looked from the hysterically sobbing, blonde bundle, currently residing on his lap and clutching him for dear life, to his brother and back, questioning his brother with his eyes what happened to the little ray of sunshine during the three days Sasuke had been unable to stay at his Naruto's side.

Not that he particularly minded the way his blond friend cuddled him and tried to burrow his blond head in Sasuke's chest. He just needed to know the name of the one responsible for upsetting his Naruto, so he could avenge every single tear and every heart rending sob the little blond shed or uttered. And he was counting.

Since it was Itachi who brought an already sobbing Naruto, he knew that he had to search farther for the culprit then he usually did, (for as a rule Naruto didn't stay upset for long, so the person in his vicinity was always the best guess when looking for the source of unhappiness and co-incidentally the first target of Sasuke's ire), because Itachi was just as fond of the little blond as Sasuke.

"I do not know what happened; only that Naruto-kun was already crying when I arrived at the classroom. He seems to be convinced that you are going to die, otouto, although it has to be a recent conviction because he was calm enough when I told him that you suffered only a mild cold two days ago."

* * *

Looking at the shaking bundle on his brother's lap, Itachi crouched down next to Sasuke's futon and petted Naruto's blond hair calmingly.

"Naruto-kun, you have to calm down or you are going to be sick. Sasuke has already recovered from his cold and he is most certainly not going to die."

Watery blue eyes that were ringed with thick black circles and hazy with exhaustion stared imploringly into concerned obsidian ones.

"Pr-pro-promise?" he hiccupped uncertainly.

"Promise, Naruto-kun," Itachi replied evenly.

Knowing that the teen would never lie to him, Naruto stopped crying, then turned his stare to the other Uchiha brother and repeated his question: "Promise?"

Sasuke nodded fiercely. "Promise, Naru-chan."

"Perhaps you should climb into Sasuke's bed and take a nap, Naruto-kun. You look exhausted and I will not have you fall ill under my watch," Itachi suggested, noticing the rapidly drooping eyelids and the small yawns that grew further in numbers.

Sasuke quickly made place, quite happy to share his bed with Naruto, and Itachi gently manoeuvred the half-asleep boy under the blankets.

He allowed himself a small smirk when Sasuke closed his arms protectively around his sleeping friend immediately, smiling when Naruto cuddled even closer, seeking the reassuring warmth of his best friend.

Assured that the blond was in safe hands, Itachi turned and walked to the door, his mind busy with ways to gather the necessary information of who exactly had convinced Naruto that his best friend was dying. Naruto, though naïve and trusting, wouldn't take just anyone's word for something as serious as that, therefore he was left with only a handful of suspects he had to find and interrogate.

Sasuke's quiet voice halted his steps. "You will find out who told him that lie, won't you, onii-san?"

Itachi's reply was short, but just as fierce as his brother's question: "Yes."

* * *

Kakashi warily glanced at the impassive face of the Uchiha heir. It wasn't only the freaking similarity to a certain hell spawn that had him so ill at ease. The obsidian eyes currently holding his gaze captive were burning with an unholy fire.

_To be or not to be? Well, I'm sure sensei can handle one upset Uchiha._

"On you go, Itachi-kun, the Hokage is currently free," he informed the teen hurriedly, crinkling his eye in a faked smile.

_And after that bloody display at the baths no one will be in a hurry to hand in any reports today._

Lowly whistling under his breath, Kakashi left the Hokage tower.

* * *

Elsewhere in Konoha a white haired hermit was sobbing into his sake. There was a bandage covering his eyes and a cast on both his legs.

"Ugly old hags…." the man rambled heart brokenly, "Everywhere I look…can't even go look for Tsunade-hime to heal me…oh my poor sight."

To Kakashi's great regret, there wouldn't be a new volume for the "Icha Icha" series for a whole year, the time it took Jiraiya to first find Tsunade and then grovel for her to lift the Jutsu his vengeful pupil had put on him.

* * *

**TBC**


End file.
